Maximum Ride: Rapture
by Asura Boss
Summary: When the bronze behemoth came, it took Angel, and Nudge's life. When it left, Max finds herself sinking to the depths, broken and bent. When she awakens, she embarks on a quest to rescue Angel from the submerged hell that is Rapture, willing to sacrifice anything, even her humanity and her sanity, to return to the surface with her little girl. Gore, semi-drug use, mature content.


**Hello, there! This isn't Thorns of a Rose, as I'm sure you can tell. Now, going through this site, I've found some pretty lacking Maximum Ride fanfics—all shipping, no wings, no action except for this really good MaxRide/Supernatural crossover story I found, I'll post the name and author in the next chapter—and almost no interesting Bioshock fanfics, so I decided, why not have both? So I did! Here is the result: Maximum Ride: Rapture. This will likely be a less regularly updated fic of mine, maybe once a week. Do not expect any FAX—that kinda ruined the series after the third book–and there shall be much bloodshed, as is the nature of Rapture's denizens. I do not intend to make this a carbon copy of any Bioshock game, either. I've also decided that, at this point, I have wasted about ninety seconds of your time, so without further ado, here's my newest fanfic: Maximum Ride: Rapture!**

 _The fish scattered as a bellowing moan echoed through the water. A shark swam away. A whale answered back. But none of these mattered to the metal-suited thing that used to be a man. All that mattered was retrieving as many of Them as possible. It moaned again and looked up. It could see the hull of a ship passing over, its rotor churning a storm of bubbles in its wake. It was moving rather slowly; an easy target. Its fingers wrapped around the grip of its drill and let it idle, stirring the water like a blender. It had its goal; now it merely needed to reach it. It sprang upward and began to float._

I woke up sputtering as Total's tongue slipped between my lips and into my mouth. As I went to swat the dog, he hopped away happily and giddily, giggle-barking up a storm as he ran back to Gazzy. I shot a scowl at him, shouting "Gazzy, get back here!" The two of them bolted out the door, Total yelling "Never!" and I could hear Iggy laughing hysterically as well. Ugh. Quite a beginning to the day, eh, Max?

I slipped out of the bed and stood up, stretching my wings and arms over my head. I felt the floor lurch a little bit and panicked, but then I remembered: Fang had convinced me that it would be a shorter, much more relaxing trip to England on a boat. Of course, the moment we boarded there were already a lot of attractive blondes and brunettes scantily clad in thin strips of fabric that apparently counted as clothing. Fang was already staring at that point, and I saw a few of them wink at him as I practically dragged him to the room and leaving a trail of saliva in our wake.

Anyway, I digress. I was now the only one in the room, even absent of Fang, the Magnificent Disappears-When-He-Stands-Still Boy.

Everyone must've been at the pool or something, 'cause everybody's meager suitcases were strewn about and the only things missing were their swimsuits. Gazzy must have decided that pranking me awake was better than simply inviting me.

Despite knowing I was alone, I still went into the bathroom to change into my swimwear, which consisted of a black two-piece bikini adorned with a symbol of a white feather on the left cup of the top and a white bird on the butt of the bikini bottom. It was like Nudge had just gone into the swim shop, picked the six swimsuits that related to us on a genetic level, and ran back out after pulling one of her Credit Card Ninja swipes. She insisted that I get this one, so just to humor her, I did. Had I thought that I'd be wearing it? No. But I was. And at least she had been sensible enough to find something that hid our wings, even if it was just barely.

As I twisted the doorknob and pushed the door open, I heard a loud, bellowing moan that was reminiscent of a whale call, and all of the hairs on the back of my neck stood on end. My eyes scanned the room for the source, but there wasn't one. I filed it in the back of my mind and shrugged it off as I began heading for the main deck.

For once I found the rest of the flock actually being as normal as can be. Angel wasn't possessing anybody (yet), Gazzy and Iggy were not making weapons of mass destruction (yet), Total hadn't peed on anything (yet), Nudge was conversing with several other teenage girls about the latest fashion trends and being the most talkative one there, and Fang, well, he was flirting with yet another Red-Haired Wonder. I swear, wherever we went, there would always be a supply of redheads for the boy to talk to.

I found a place to lie down near the pool, which was actually rather empty, considering how many people were on this cruise. We must have gotten up pretty early to beat most of the other people on the boat. People were coming, though. I made sure my wings were tucked tightly behind my back and laid myself down on the chair, already feeling warm beneath the loving, blissful caress of the sunlight.

"Where'd you get that tattoo?" I startled when I heard the voice nearby. I whipped my head around to see a tall, brown-haired boy with fair skin and glasses. He was around average in muscle and weight, neither skinny nor fat nor muscular. He had a tattoo of a bear paw on his shoulder, which looked as if it had been burned by something. It took me a moment to figure out what he meant by "tattoo".

"Oh, this?" I responded as I gestured to my wings, but I sounded dumber than usual, like a ditzy airhead who was trying hard to "unintentionally" grab a cute guy. Weaklings, those kinds of girls, and, yet, I live with one and I just talked like one. Ironic, right? "I got it at a place in New York. Pretty good, those guys."

"Huh. Cool." The boy sat down beside me, a little too close for comfort. He was WAY too close. "I got this thing at, uh, a place in Southern California." He pointed to his tattoo, and I forced an expression of amusement as I stood up, cooing "Ooooh!" as I attempted to slink away, but he caught on and followed me.

"I've, uh, gotta get back to my family," I lied to him, and he paused as I partially turned to him. He nodded hesitantly, then ran off, seemingly displeased with himself. I sighed in relief and turned back around, but as I did, I felt something brush against my skin on my lower back, just above my butt. I felt around and discovered a piece of paper, thinking it was a tag, but I had already removed the tags. I drew the paper and inspected it. It was no larger than my thumb, and it had a number and a message printed on it:

 _83198_

 _Look out for Mr. B._

I turned around to see if the boy was still there, but he was nowhere to be seen, so I looked back down at the piece of paper, memorized the number and message, and tucked it into the left cup of my bikini top. I glanced over at Fang, whose lips were now locked shut in a kiss with the Red-Haired Wonder, and my blood boiled for just a moment before I heard that moan again. The one from the room. But now it sounded threatening.

Everyone on deck was now looking around, with the exception of the blind Iggy, searching for the source of the bellow. I saw Angel climb out of the pool and come to me, hugging my leg in fear. "Something is coming," she said, trembling, "And it's big."

"Eraser?" I asked, but I knew that wouldn't be the case; no Eraser sounded like a whale.

"No. Bigger."

The boat began to rock, and the moan echoed again. Now it was LOUD and it was not in the water. Red-Haired Wonder shoved into me as she tried to run.

...and then something landed in front of her.

It was huge.

A bulbous bronze helmet with eight glowing yellow eyes—three arranged in two columns, then one on each side—protected by a roll-cage was on its front. It looked rather stout with that. A pair of oxygen tanks were attached to its back. Some sort of cloth material made up the sleeves and pants, with bronze rings around the huge knees and elbows. The left hand was gauntleted by a bronze glove, while the right was not a hand, but a gray drill. The feet were clad in heavy boots of bronze.

This thing was made to kill.

It moaned and turned slowly around to face Red-Haired Wonder, who had gone pale in the face. It raised the drill and revved, a loud _VRRRRROOOOOMM!_ roared from the drill. She fainted. The beast moved forward, past the girl, but it stopped for a moment to look at the girl briefly, then advanced once again.

The flock joined me, but they were all behind me as well. The monster stopped in front of me.

"What do you want?" I said, and it raised its hand and lifted a finger.

It pointed at Angel.

"No. You can't have her." I replied. It moaned and its eyes turned red, revved its drill, but I stood my ground, entered a fighting stance, and gritted my teeth with a growl. It took a single step forward, I mirrored.

But I couldn't ever hope to replicate the way he swatted me like I was a fly.

I slammed into the side rail and heard something crack as the wind was knocked out of me. My head smashed into the side, hard enough that I saw stars. I gasped for air as pulsing black splotches filled my vision, and my ears rung loud enough to block out all other sounds.

Except Angel, who was screaming, and the ship, which was sinking.

I staggered to my feet, my back and chest and head throbbing, and I knew I had broken bones. My vision was clear enough that I could see the bronze beast fighting the others.

The beast reached for Angel, but she ran. It went to follow her when Nudge held up both hands and focused. It lifted its foot, but as it went to set the foot down, it was tugged out from beneath it, and it tripped, falling on its head. It rolled over and got to its feet, its eyes red. It made a moan-like noise, but it was more like a rev than a moan, and it wasn't using its drill.

Steam began blasting out of the sides of its helmet.

It charged at Nudge, who turned to run, but it caught her with its hand. Spun the drill.

" _NNOOOOOO_!"

I don't know who screamed, but someone did, maybe me, just as the beast plunged the drill through Nudge's back. It ripped the drill from her back and her bloody entrails spewed out, then it simply tossed the corpse of my friend aside like she was a candy wrapper. Her body landed near me. It was obvious she was dead. I wanted to cry.

But even more than that, I wanted that thing dead.

It charged forward again, lowering a shoulder forward and barreling into Iggy, shoving Gazzy and Fang aside in the process. He laughed and coughed at the same time, having been winded by being slammed by a half ton of bronze and muscle, but then he rolled away and bolted. The explosive on the monster's head—placed there by the Blind Bomber himself—went off in a miniature mushroom cloud.

I watched the cloud with satisfaction. It was dead. Had to be. I limped over and knelt beside Nudge. She had a circular hole in her chest, and her innards were all but obliterated. I closed her eyes with a shaky hand, tears stabbing at my eyes. I lifted the body as the others joined me, casting her over the side, into the depths from which her killer had come.

Goodbye, Nudge. I'll miss you.

I turned back to the others. Angel was weeping with her arms around Fang's leg, Fang himself had his eyes cast down, then shut entirely. A tearful Iggy was hugging Gazzy, who was also crying. I didn't know what to do.

 _GGGRRRRRROOOOOOOOHHHHHHH..._

I whipped my head around.

It was back.

And it was angry.

"Look out!" I shouted, shoving the others away as the monster charged. It slammed into me, sending me through the rail with its fist. I cartwheeled through the air, and I unfolded my wings. I got blinded by the pain of doing so. I couldn't fly! All I could do was watch as the beast grabbed Angel and turned to the edge. A large bronze sphere rose from the water, and a hatch opened in the top. It leapt down and landed on the sphere, then dropped a struggling Angel into it. The hatch closed behind her, and the beast leapt into the water. The sphere descended, then it was gone, and Angel with it.

I hit the water finally, the cold liquid smothering me and filling my lungs. When I stopped struggling, I simply floated downward, descending into the darkness to join Nudge in death.


End file.
